djstar39

My Feedback: (4)

Hey Speed,

Got your package! Thank you so much! I owe you!

Dave

ronbell

Speedracer - nice video! You're definitley correct about a lot of it being non-scale - kind of explains where your name came from

Greg - looks like you and I took the same approach when it came to pilot figures and repainting the interior colors. I couldn't justify the price for the Best Pilot figures so I went with the $6 Hanger9 ones - my daughter named mine Will & Bill & Gunner Gill!!

Here are a few pictures of where I am with the interior stuff.

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Looks great Ron. I'm impressed with your switch and guage setup on the rear wall. I wasn't so careful, lol. Also, like the guages on the bombadier panel. Are those photocopies of guages?
I meant to maiden the Mitchell this last weekend (mem day), but my co-pilot sprained his ankle and couldn't make it out. I'm using a spotter to assist me in making sure I am hitting all the right switches the first couple go rounds. Just feel better having to worry about flying the plane only and not whether or not I am remembering to switch this or adjust that. We have set a date for the 11th before we have a eveing fun fly at the club field. A little more work to do and she is ready. Basically, install the starboard side flap and aileron servos and tap the spars on both wing tips. The cowls are already done, including the radials and basic balance and adjust remains. I'll be ready for the 11th unless it rains.
Here are some pics I took after Saturdays 15 hours of assembly. I'm at least 300 hours but I work slow! lol

ronbell

Looking good Greg - I know exactly what you mean about flying vs. managing the systems. This girl gets complex pretty quickly and, if you're anything like me, then available brain capacity seems to quickly evaporate when things get 'busy'.

Appreciate your kind comments on the switch/air panel. I wanted to keep all that stuff on the inside and out of sight. Of course that meant that I had to make the canopy easily removeable (used helicopter canopy screws) which is not true to scale but not very noticeable. The unknown is whether it will hold up under the vibration - fingers crossed!.

For the bombardier panel I googled aircraft instruments and downloaded a pdf of 'suitable ones then shrunk the pictures using some photo editing software until I got them to print at the required size (6mm diameter if I remember correctly), cut them out using the hole cutters in my Xacto knife set (which I bought in the 60's, I think - hard to be certain about anything from around then) and stuck them on with a spot of CA. The large dial should really be the intervalometer for the bomb salvo spacing but I couldn't find a front, face on view of one of those so I just used something that looked kind of similar, if you don't look too closely

Now I have to go and repair my tail gun section. It was my turn to do something really dumb last night... I went to trial fit the tail gunner section using the screw in gun barrels only to find that the holes were too small for the barrels to go in. Silly me tried to used a drill to enlarge them and crumbled some of the epoxy moulding!! I have now successfully enlarged them using my dremel with a grinding bit so now I get to rebuild and reshape the outside profile around the guns and then mask and re-paint that area.

Once again I prove that short cuts never are!!!

Good luck with your upcoming maiden. I am still quite a ways off so I am particularly interested to hear about yours.

Also - love the propellers!!!

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Thanks Ron. I too am looking forward to the maiden as well. I'm a wee bit nervous only because of the investment, both time and money (mostly money!). I do feel better knowing I'll have someone there with me to "remember" what switches to throw and when. He is a trusted and good friend.
The props? Yeah, I spent a couple days working on them. Would have been shorter but I accidentally used the wrong clear coat over the base coat and they wrinkled. So I stripped them back down and started over. At that point I thought, why not add a red stripe inside the traditional yellow tip. Turned out okay I guess and at least they are not plain jane master airscrews. What will be real funny is I end up not liking the way she flies with the 12X8's and all the scaling will be for not. lol, but I am taking the word of others that these Saito 82's push the best with them. Anyway, I'll keep the gang posted.
Greg

djstar39

My Feedback: (4)

Greg / Ron,

Just a tip... the little rubber bands that hold the nose gun in don't last very long. At least they don't for me. I replaced them with some light duty springs so I wouldn't have to keep taking the nose section off to replace them.

I also fully get the need for a spotter.... actually not a choice for me as my co-pilot runs my second transmitter. Also, I've read on other threads that a lot of guys won't talk to anybody while they're assembling / preflighting their aircraft. Too many distractions can lead to connecting the wrong servo wire, forgetting a step, etc. My buddies tend to give me a hard time but I'll stop what I'm doing if someone wants to chat.

I also use a checklist and it saved my butt the other day. I assembled her at the field and was starting to check control surfaces when I decided to pull my checklist out. As I read through it, right there in black and white it says 'Tighten the nylon wing bolts' that go through the oil coolers. Yep, completely forgot that step. You can't see those bolts so it is easy to overlook. Checklist baby!

Dave

ronbell

Good advice Dave - thanks.

I also use checklists (hangover from when I used to fly full scale) but have to plead guilty to having screwed up by running through the checklist from memory and missing something - felt REALLY stupid when I did that, absolutely no excuse!

Ron.

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Yeah Dave, I think most of us would use a check list on this particular aircraft even if we don't usually on other smaller birds, and I am one of them. I have never used a checklist before on a model plane, but see the need for one on this. Also, funny thing is I didn't have the nylon wing bolts on my list but will now! Thanks, lol.
Greg

Far_high

Hello to all

Got finally started my B-25 last week!!!

reveived all my gear i.e ( gyro, mc daniel glow driver, retracts and match box for flaps, pump.)

so far sealed and ironed the covering, fuel proof nacelle and all inside wood surfaces with epoxy and alcohol mix.

All control surfaces are installed and test, now starting the work on both nacell to install retract, engine, servo.

Ron

about the electrical switch you install, are they only for on-off operation or the led inside are monitoring the battery? what are you suggesting as electrical setup ie battery, switch, meter.

thank

Pat

ronbell

Pat,

The switches that I use are from MPI (Maxxprod.com) and they have a built in battery monitor - red, yellow, and green LEDs. I use 5-cell NiMH batteries so my biggest concern is losing a single cell and hence the output dropping from 6V to 4.8V. The most common NiMH failure mode is a single cell shorting out. The LEDs on the switch are enough to alert me to that condition. For anything more involved I use a plug-in battery tester / voltmeter with load. My thought process is that even at 4.8V everything will still work (except my bomb release system which needs 6V) so I can still fly and land. However, I would not take off in that condition.

We all have our personal preferences when it comes to batteries and there are many good approaches. I guess it is largely force of habit and familiarity that keeps me in the NiMH camp. If I were to switch then I would seriously consider LIFE batteries but am not sure about charging them in the aircraft since they need a balance connector.

I posted details of my electrical set up earlier in this thread but basically I am using 3 identical 2700 mAh batteries. Twoare for the RX and all flying surfaces, throttles and gear control. The third is mainly for the bomb doors/release system but, as it's not doing much for most of the time, I am also using it for the flaps and glow driver.

Hope that helps. Look forward to your pics.

Ron.

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Okay guys, I was able to maiden the bomber yesterday at our flying field. Went through the whole process of pre flight and everything looked good for a go. So I nervously taxied out and lined her up. The gyro did it's job on roll out and she was fairly straight down the runway to rotation. Lift off was a bit dicey because upon rotation, she rolled to the left and a quick correction was needed to straighten her out. The Saito 82's did the job but you could tell the bird was weighty. On first accent and turn out to pattern, the gyro was fighting a tad making the tail hang a little, but once I corrected, she leveled out and began to fly straight ahead. I made a few passes and a confirmation of gear down pass and then set up for final. Had to go around on the first one because I accidentally hit the gear up instead of the full flaps and realized I was going to belly land her, oops! The second attempt looked text book with a perfect decent and flair. I then hit full flaps and the nose pitched down pretty hard due to the mix of down elevator built into my full flap deployment. A little note here fellas, if you prefer to "feel" your plane and correct manually, don't use automatic mix between yourflaps and elevator. Here is the problem I experienced: The nose pitched down so bad, I had to correct and when she flaired, she slightly stalled to the right setting me up for a diagonal approach. Fearing I would run short on fuel, I committed myself anyway and flaired for touchdown. I bounced a little and then touched down lightly and all was well until the tall grass on the other side of the runway caught my wing tip and spun her into the grass. She skidded to the right and unfortunately the left side gear mount was ripped out from under the plane. In the end, it is easily reapairable, maybe an afternoon of work and a sheet of ply to replace what was shattered. Also realized after draining the tanks, I had at least five minutes of fuel left. I should have gone around and done it over. The thing that hurt the most was that I couldn't fly again! I so wanted to get passed the first flight jitters and then enjoy her. Guess that will have to wait for another day.
I was very pleased with her performance though and all in all, I'll say the maiden was successful. I walked away with a repairable plane and the ability to make some educated changes for the next attempt. I'll have to investigate why she rolled so hard on rotation and my assumption is she needs some lateral weight balancing. I should have her out again within a week or two. Below is a link to a not so great video a friend of mine took and a couple pics from the picture session before the maiden. There were at least six guys taking video (talk about pressure!).
I'm just glad I am done and I got the first flight out of the way! It was a long road and I am glad I can now just go out and fly the damn thing, lol. And yes, she does fly allot like a trainer, albeit a very heavy one. And she did act like she should and final approach looked scale. She was beautiful! The twin saitos sounded awesome! Looking forward to the next go!
http://vimeo.com/24967883

ronbell

Congratulations Greg!!!  (despite the oops at the end) - have you stopped shaking yet?  She looked and sounded great!!

As you said, that sounds like a pretty straightforward repair and things could have been much worse.  Aiming to learn from your experience, I have a couple of questions:

1. Did you set the CG at 5" with gear down per the manual?  If so, how did that feel in flight?
2. Did you turn the gyro off or change the gain at any time in flight?
3. How much down elevator did you have mixed in with full flaps?  The manual says 1/4" which does sound like a lot.
4. Any idea what your all up weight is?

Ron.

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Hey Ron. Congrats to you as well. Your the first to post on the 114th page on this thread! lol
Yeah, all in all I was very pleased with the way she flew, despite the "oops" at the end. I will have to rebuild a little bit of the box inside the fiberglass nacelle to repair the damage caused by the skid, and I'll have to repair one side gun that was snapped off, but reaaly wasn't as bad as it could have been, yes. Here is the answers to your questions:

1. The CG with gear up worked out to 5 1/4 inches and with gear down it was 4 3/4, so I left it alone. She felt balanced and in flight I didn't feel any adverse effects.

2. I have a remote gain feature on the JR 9303 that adjusts the Futaba GY401 Gyro. I use a three position switch (AUX2) to control it. Since the gyro has to be powered up in AVCS mode, the "0" position is for that. After power up, I have one gain setting for take off and another for flight and landing. Yes I switched it to a lower gain upon take off and besides a tiny bit of fighting right after take off until I hit the switch to lower the gain, didn't have any issues to speak of. Thanks to the gyro, roll out was straight.

3. I had the elevator set at 1/4 inch as per instructions. YES, I believe that was too much. Others would say no, but I have always prefered to "feel" the plane and it rotated nose down fairly violently when I switched on full flaps. That I beleive was what started the "oops". Recovering from that I had to pull back which set up a slight right stall causing me to be heading down the runway diagonally to the right which put me close to the edge and ultimately caused the wing to grab the grass and spin her around. I immediately removed that mixed in elevator down control and will be manually compensating from here on out. I am in no way suggesting you or anyone else do the same, as your all up weight and balance point may require it. For me though, I think I'll stick to the old fashioned technique of feeling her out and making the corrections manually.

4. I can't tell you the weight because I haven't gotten a chance to get my hands on a scale, but I'm guessing about 24 pounds.

So, after a couple evenings of repairs, she should be ready for another go at it. I'll be allot less nervous about it too. She really is a kitten, just too many chatter boxes around me while I was trying to fly (it was a big deal and a few came out just to see it fly) and nervous to begin with. I did secure a dvd copy of the flight and will try to get it converted and posted. I am thinking about starting up a Youtube account and if so, I'll just post it on there and then post the link on here. You can plainly see the violent nose down when I switched on the full flaps about 40 feet off the runway. That set up the sequence of events that lasted all of about five seconds where I admittedly choked a little and by the time I recovered, she was doomed to run into the tall grass. Anyway, I'll do my best to get that video up ASAP.

Take care, Greg

ps. Oh, and yes I finally stopped shaking. I flew for about five minutes and I didn't know I could hold my breath that long! LOL

djstar39

My Feedback: (4)

Greg,

Congrats on the maiden! You are gonna love this bird!!! With regards to the down elevator mixed with flaps. This has bitten me on several different airplanes and I now maiden without any. It is quite unerving to fly with the right stick back 1/4 to 1/2 and try to turn and all!! I deploy my flaps on the downwind leg but if you don't get slowed down enough, she will balloon. But then she settles down into a nice predictable pattern.

Dave

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Thanks Dave. I agree. I usually do deploy my full flaps on the down leg because by then I've bled off enough airspeed. This go round I listened to my friend and waited until final and committed to land. Waiting was a big mistake. I didn't give myself time to get to know her at all. Really looking forward to getting her out and again real soon. Also, still working on the video.

Greg

djstar39

My Feedback: (4)

I'm sure you'll have her up in no time!! And yeah, I couldn't see the video... wanted a password.

dave

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Dave and all,
I am currently uploading a video to Youtube as I write this. This video is much better, although a bit shakey at zoom in flight, but still shows most of the flight in decent form. My friend Roger at the club filmed it and I was able to get a copy of it from him.
As for the repairs? I am done fixing the gear mount and the last thing to do is re-affix the gear doors (wasn't happy with the way I did it the first time) and put the thing back together. I will try to get more video this weekend when I fly it again. Also, my friend Dave is bringing his super zoom camera and should have some really detailed still shots as well to share. This time out, I think the "pucker" factor will be much less and I can just fly the damn thing! LOL

Greg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8e1nvaiJpA

ronbell

Greg - Thanks for posting the new video, she looks awesome in the air!!  I see what you mean about having several copilots

Ron.

c550

My Feedback: (16)

Here is a video of my Top Flite B-25; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh7rq7AVfFk

RCGuy41

Greg, nice maiden flight, just a quick observation, on final try going out a little further bring your throttles down to 1/4 on final then at the thresh hold bring them back to idle and flair for landing. I have already had my B-25 flying this season and would enjoy doing a form fly, just as long the weather cooperates. Sorry to hear about the damage [:'(]

RCGuy41

c550,

Thanks for the video, your B-25 has all the bells and whistles to include the superb detail work you have put into her, great job.

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

Brad, good advice and I have thought it through quite a few times since last Saturday. Unfortunately, my mindset about old warbirds is "airspeed, airspeed, airspeed" but I see after the over run first try on the video, she is moving at a good clip even though I only had her at 1/4 throttle. Your right and my plan is to chop the throttle at the threshold or slightly before depending on my altitude. Thanks for the advice and yeah, would love to do a form fly. Why don't you check out our website (charlescountyrc.org) and come out to our warbird flyin in September as well. The guys would love that! Plus, that would give us time to practice up a routine, . Anytime you want to come out, let me know, but please wait until I am adjusted and can fly mine like I have some sense, lol

Thanks for the video C550. That was a sweet greased landing dude! Nice bird!

Ron, I certainly don't want to make it sound as if I am upset about all the guys standing out there. I was happy to have some real excitement at our field and the guys were all there for support and fun. Just wish they had been a little quieter, lol. I had a hard time understanding my buddy calling out what was next. This Sunday should be a little different.......I hope.

ronbell

Understood Greg - As you've probably figured, I actually shared some of their excitement. I was merely commenting on the fact that you could hear on the video how much advice you were getting! Good luck for Sunday!

My build is stalled right now as my machinist buddy who is making the custom exhaust headers for me went and got himself married last week so he is a tad distracted right now

gregory.aldrich1

My Feedback: (9)

lol Ron. As far as I know, my hobby had some to do with why I am now single! Women just don't understand,
Yes I have watched the video a few times to review the good and bad points and you certainly can hear the chatter. All friends and all meant well. A guy should feel lucky to have that much attention, right? I'm hoping my Mitchell will spur a few guys to get off their duffs and build something with some stars and bars as our club is having a warbird fly in on September 10th of this year. Working to try and get our event larger and larger every year. Last year I believe we had almost 20 registered pilots flying in the event. This year we are expecting neighboring club members and maybe a few guys from down in the Carolinas to attend. I hope my bird lasts till then! There's no way I could build another one in time.

Greg

RCGuy41

Greg,

Speed is good but remember when you have full flaps deployed and on final 1/4 throttle is almost too much power. Just keep her high and the nose pointed at the end of the run way and fly her to approximately 3-5 feet in altitude and at the threshold chop that throttle to idle and then slightly flair so your mains come down first. In time and with more flight time you will grease all your landings but we all have thous days where nothing seems to go right. You will develop your technique with this model, for me; I have a gyro so upon intial TX and RX turn on switchology is critical. After intial power on 10 seconds later I can turn the gyro off, then I go into eng start up tack both eng at full throttle, return to idle and then deploy half flaps, taxi out and then line up at the end of the runway. At this point the gyro gets turned on I throttle up gradualy until I start rolling then hit it full throttle. During rollout I watch the nose and when it starts bouncing I input 1/4 up elevator and watch her climb into the air at about ten feet I turn the gyro off (R index finger) retract the gear (L index finger) then after the first turn run the flaps full up (L index finger but on the corner of TX) then watch her gain speed. Before the second turn I'm bringing the throttles down to 2/3rds and fly for the next nine minutes. Yes I can fly that long with proper throttle management, upon landing I have enough fuel to go around two to three more times if I botch the landing. I will check out your clubs web site, in the mean time get in some flight time and enjoy your B-25.